Still Holding Strong!

The blog I read was, Curious Cat's Guide to Texas Poltics by Rob Catledge. Rob wrote the same article I did for blog 7 but we both had different view points. Rob didn’t voice much opinion about Arizona’s new law he focused more on that Austin should be more focused on Austin itself and not about other states. He did say though that we should just sit back and see what really happens with the law and not be quick to judge Arizona. He also said Rasmussen poll showed that 70% of Arizona voters favor the new law. This shows me he did research on the topic. He believes that the boycott shouldn’t even be taking place and that Austin city council job is to worry about Austin business not other people. Rob also doesn’t understand why Austin is trying to tell residents of another state how to run their state.
I respect Rob’s argument and see the point of telling Austin to be more focused on its own regular day to day activities. But like I stated before I don’t agree with this law at all racial profiling is still a big deal in this law and they can’t just send officers out there and ask them to make a decision between who is legal and who isn’t. That’s not what they are train to do and can’t be taught that either. Even though Austin has its own problems, banning travels from Austin to Arizona is still smart because maybe other cities will follow and won’t be scared to voice their opinion. We know that Washington and San Francisco already are doing the same kind of ban and those are big cities. Rob believed we are jumping on a “bandwagon” just because these two cities did it and I don’t believe that’s the case I think we are trying to send out a strong message that not a lot of people support this law.
The idea of not sending city officials to Arizona to protect them from incidents like being question or any racial profiling is smart. But Rob said that “What makes him think the environment will be hostile? Are the police stationed on the corner, accosting everyone who walks by? Will they breakdown doors and interrupt dinner to check on immigration status?” Maybe they won’t be but we aren’t sure and we don’t want to find out if we send these city officials there and something bad happens before we have to ban it after so we might lay down the ban of traveling now before something bad happens. I think many people still stand strong on that the law should be removed and not enacted at all and hope the federal government can do something about it.

Austin cutting all ties with Arizona?

Austin City Council is preparing to limit city travel to Arizona and ending business relations with the state also. In the article by Sarah Coppola it says that Austin will protest the new Arizona law that will give law enforcement the right to arrest anyone who the suspect is illegal. The law requires that people must carry immigration documents to prove they are here legally and it is a crime if they do not carry these documents with them at all times. "The law is overreaching and does not represent values that we care about or possess," Austin City Council Member Mike Martinez said. People in Austin believe it is important to send a strong message to Arizona and show them that this law is unconstitutional and not what Texas stands for. Governor Rick Perry also stated that this law would not be right for Texas. Which the state of Texas has been known for rejecting harsh immigration laws. Mayor Lee Leffingwell will introduce a resolution on travel and business ban that the council will decide on may 13th. Other cities like Los Angeles and Washington also are getting ready to set a ban on the same ideas of traveling and business. San Francisco already had banned city officials from traveling to Arizona. The city of Austin doesn’t have any information about how many business trips city employees take to Arizona or if they have any business ties but they are working on getting that data together. Two Texas law makers who were not named said they will introduce a same bill when the legislature meets. Perry said on Thursday "I fully recognize and support a state's right and obligation to protect its citizens, but I have concerns with portions of the law passed in Arizona and believe it would not be the right direction for Texas." Perry believes Texas should instead focus should be on border security. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the U.S. Senate that the Justice Department review is underway to determine if the law is unconstitutional. Leffingwell said that he usually doesn’t like to take a stance on stuff outside Austin but, "Arizona's legislation potentially has a direct impact on our employees, and is generally so offensive that I believe it demands our attention."
I believe that Austin is making a good decision to protest and ban business traveling to Arizona and any business ties they have with the state until this law is removed. This law takes effect in August and will require law enforcement to detain people who they think are illegal without any documentation. I think this will lead to racial profiling, even though the state said they are training their law enforcement not to profile the people which I think is not even possible. I’m glad to see Perry not support this law because a lot of states already made it clear they want nothing to do with Arizona and it is the least liked state right now. If Texas were even close to passing this law if or when it is proposed like the article said there will be a huge back lash to a lot of political figures who support this. This will also affect Texas in the future like we learned in class that in the near future Hispanics will be the majority of the population in Texas and people will have to run campaigns that will appeal to them. This is not a smart move for any state to do because of the rise in population of Hispanics. Even though Austin might not be able to cancel every trip to Arizona or lose all contact with them, it shows Arizona that we and many other cities don’t support them and it will hurt in the long run and this will help our city officials from being in such a place where they can be stopped and asked information.